'We're women, we're young and we're happy' is the anthem of the now generation. And quite contrary to what the opposite sex might think, it does not take diamonds, a swanky car or a beachhouse to make a woman happy. It's those little things that bring on the sunshine... a warm hug from her beloved, a heart-to-heart with a pal, losing an inch from her waist...

Happiness Is Not A Destination. It Is A Method Of Life
So what makes a woman happy? As sociologist Susan Vishwanathan from Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) points out, "Women who have autonomy and are free to make their choices are probably happier than men primarily because those choices have been fought for and won after very recent battles. Women are happy to be out at work and cope with responsibilities at home and work. I think they count these as major victories."

Is it that sense of being able to steer their lives on their chosen tracks that makes them happy? Yes, more than ever. Preeta Verghese Arora, communications professional, Faculty for Management Studies, Pune, is clear that, "At the right time in life, I was able to take a call on what my priorities were. There was the total conviction that I wanted the best of all the worlds - family, career, relationships and of course, time for myself as a thinking individual."

Preeta is not the only one taking a call on what she wants in life. Bangalore's Susan George has reason to crow as, "I've succeeded since I've managed to get away from Kerala to come and study in Bangalore. It has been exhilarating." For 25-year-old Delhi journalist Sanghita Singh, happiness equates with being independent, meeting her deadlines and at the end of the day, being responsible for herself. Happiness for women, she believes, also comes from having come to terms with themselves and not needing any man to feel happy...

And valuing the small things... Like "When my little daughter sends me an e-mail, or when my dog cuddles up near my feet at night or when my mother calls to chat," says Radhika Dossa, 29-year-old ad filmmaker, hotelier and casting director, Pune, or "if I get back home and find my mom's cooked my favourite 'rajma' or my dad's got me flowers," says Shruti Chauhan.

Research Happy
The study of happiness has become a big buzz today. You find professors of happiness in leading universities and quality of life institutes around the world. Over the last decade, researchers have published thousands of papers on the subject, which now have a journal of happiness studies.

With money donated by billionaire philanthropist Sir John Templeton, a series of awards worth USD 200,000, the highest in psychology, has also been set up. Critics, however, fret over what they regard as 'Positive Psychology's faddish attractions'. The late Richard Lazarus, an emeritus professor at the University of California at Berkeley, dismissed the research in positive psychology as not being rigorous enough and ridiculed the movement as 'happiology' led by 'zealots and simplistic thinking'.

Predictably, `happiology' is also sparking 'serious interest' among governments and policy makers around the world. In December '02 for example, PM Tony Blair's Strategy Unit published a paper recommending policies that might increase the nation's happiness.

'I'm Quite Happy When Women Are Happy'
Upcoming fashion designer Sidharth Tytler: "If you look at the history of women in India, then women have reasons to be more happy. They've come very far; have progressed much more than men, in fact, I'd say 40 times more. In terms of job, social standing, etc women have gone farther ahead than men. May be it's a guy versus gal thing but now men are being shot down for some strange reasons. But me, I'm quite happy when women are happy and no sexism there please!"

'Men Don't Bond At The Workplace; They See Each Other As Competitors'
sychiatrist Dr Samir Parikh says that women are better stress managers, have better social skills than men, more ability to empathise, share and communicate, which translate into happier lives. So, from the social and psychological perspective women are overall happier than men. "How many men to bond together at the workplace without seeing each other as competitors? Also, the overall pressure of work on men, though it is changing now, is still huge. As such, they tend to miss out on the ability to have fun and build social bonds," claims Dr Parikh.

Courtesy: The Economic Times
(By Purabi Shridhar with inputs from Reshmi Chakraborty, Delhi; Ruchira Bose, Mumbai; Madhuri Velegar K, Bangalore; Ethel Da Costa, Goa; Namita A Shrivastava, Hyderabad and Sameera Moledina, Pune)